Category: Chemicals

Today’s workplace uses thousands of chemicals, many of which are hazardous. The resources in this section will help guide you in the safe and legal identification, storage, transport, and use of these chemicals, and in making sure that your employees right to know how to be safe around such substances is provided, as required by law.

Fertile Soil for Safety: OSHA’s Ammonium Nitrate Storage Rules

The earliest recorded disaster involving ammonium nitrate (AN) occurred on April 16, 1947, in Texas City, Texas. A transport vessel loaded with 2,600 tons of AN caught fire; when the fire spread to the sealed storage hold, the transport exploded, killing 581 people—including all but one member of the Texas City Fire Department. We’ve known […]

Fertile Soil for Safety: OSHA, EPA, and Industry Address Fertilizer Safety

On April 17, 2013, fire broke out in a wooden warehouse at West Fertilizer Company in West, Texas. As the town’s volunteer fire department mobilized to respond, 30 tons of ammonium nitrate (AN) fertilizer in an adjacent wooden warehouse exploded. Fifteen people died, including 12 volunteer firefighters. An apartment building, many houses, and a nursing […]

2013 TRI National Analysis—Chemical Release Data

2013 TRI National Analysis—Chemical Release Data The EPA tracks chemical waste disposal and other releases to keep the public informed and to help them “identify priorities and opportunities for government and communities to work with industry to reduce toxic chemical disposal or other releases and potential associated risks.” These chemicals may be released at the […]

Handling Mercury-Containing Fluorescent Bulbs Safely

Mercury has quite the mystique. Its “quicksilver” identity fueled car brands; its thermal properties made it ubiquitous at one time in thermometers of every sort. But mercury is toxic, and workers who handle or break fluorescent bulbs are at risk of exposure. Here is how to clean up broken bulbs. Preventing Mercury Exposures If you […]

2013 TRI National Analysis—Pollution Prevention and Waste Management

2013 TRI National Analysis—Pollution Prevention and Waste Management One of the biggest challenges for anyone that produces toxic chemical wastes is to find ways to minimize disposal. The generally followed hierarchy of choices begins with source reduction, and moves down to recycling, then energy recovery, treatment, and finally, disposal or other releases. During the past […]

Mercury Health Hazards Are Real!

The phaseout of incandescent lightbulbs has led to an increase in the use of energy-efficient fluorescent bulbs, including compact fluorescent lightbulbs or lamps (CFLs). Traditional long-tube fluorescent bulbs and the compact variety contain mercury vapor and may have small amounts of liquid mercury, both of which can be released when the bulbs are broken or […]

Sweating the (Very) Small Stuff: Preventing Nanomaterial Exposures

Nano-scale materials have different physical and chemical properties than the same materials in larger sizes. So the methods you would use to protect workers against those materials in larger sizes won’t always work for nanomaterial exposures. In fact, in some cases, you may need to protect workers against materials that pose no hazard in larger […]

It’s the (Very) Little Things: Identifying Nanomaterial Exposures

If you’ve ever had a cold, you know that terrible misery can come in microscopic packages. What you may not realize is that infectious biological agents like influenza and the cold virus are not the only extremely tiny hazards workers may face. Particles that fall into the “billionths of a meter” size—nanomaterials—may also be affecting […]

Prevent Chemical Releases with Inherently Safer Systems

On August 6, 2012, a fire at a refinery in California shut down the facility for months and sent more than 15,000 nearby residents to local hospitals with breathing problems. The fire occurred when a 52-inch section of pipe leading from a crude oil distillation tower began leaking flammable hydrocarbons that formed a vapor cloud […]

Are You Prepared to Respond to a Chemical Release?

On November 15, 2014, workers at a pesticide plant in Texas were trying to restart the methomyl production line after a 5-day shutdown. They were having problems: A line was plugged and the building ventilation wasn’t working properly. Around 4 a.m., workers opened a drain valve in the vent system to release pressure, without realizing […]